LDF President and Director-Counsel Sherrilyn Ifill[3] published an Op-Ed in the New York Times, explaining why recent calls by some to focus on “solely class” and abandon race-conscious admissions policies fail to address the realities of how race continues to define opportunity.

As Ifill notes, the policies that give us the best chance to meet today’s challenges, as well as those of the future, embrace both race and class, along with a host of other factors. She writes,

“If the Supreme Court reverses its 2003 decision to uphold affirmative action on campus and outlaw any consideration of race in admissions decisions, it would be a radical – a tragic culmination of decades of backtracking on racial justice. But the battle for racial diversity in higher education will not end, because neither the court nor the country can simply will away the enduring importance of race in determining life chances.”